Today is exactly three months of my secondment here and coming from any Malaysian, I’m sure you won’t be surprised that the one (and maybe to others THE most) thing I’m missing most is the local Malaysian food. From the hokkien mee in Jalan 222 to the weekly routine of Taman Desa fish head noodle and most definitely, mummy’s cooking. Even the simple roti canai with the fish curry and the morning smell of hot steamy santan rice flooded with sambal sotong or kerang are just thoughts that I’ll be holding for another nine more months.
Food are relatively priced here, with your average lunches starting from $5 to $15 at food courts, pubs, pizza or sandwich places. Between $15 to $30, you can have a good steak, ribs and fresh seafood. Beyond that, it will be find dining or more – such as Tetsuya, which is offering a ten-course meal for $195+ Given the unconscious mental calculation of converting every dollar spent to Ringgit (I really can’t help it!) I limit myself to indulge once a week lunch and dinner experimenting new restaurants or outings with friends. Even so, always look for the good deals and discounts.
The Thai restaurants here are almost a ratio of 2:1, being two restaurants on every street in CBD and surrounding suburbs. Other popular Asian restaurants are Chinese (which makes up of HK, China, Malaysian Chinese, Thai Chinese and whatever Chinese as long as their eyes are slightly oriental, I prefer calling them sepet) and I’ve seen a few Malay or Malaysian restaurants too. Of course you’ll have Australian cuisines, Italians and a few odd Middle Eastern and Lebanese restaurants.
So, am I spoilt with the selection? No. I’d give any of the above in exchange of the familiar aroma of the fresh nasi lemak and mummy’s cooking. Generally the portion here is generous. An economy rice for three dishes in Paddy’s Market is about $8 and it heaps up like a mountain. Trust me, the portion is enough for two of our Malaysian chap farn. Then every Asian food, especially curries are so (ridiculously) sweet. The Asian food here is localised to the taste and not spicy at all. If anything is spicy, it’s just spicy and there’s not much taste. I can’t say much about the Australian dining experience though as I’m still having trouble identifying what is Australia’s speciality?
Given all the food experience this three months, I have to share with you my experience today. It’s winter and something really hot and soupy would do good. I went to the food court, where there is at least 20 odd international stalls. And I picked the oriental like (cause I can’t figure out what version of Chinese it was) and ordered a spicy soup noodle with bbq pork (char siu). Again, it was overwhelming on the bowl with the char siu right at the top and to my disappointment, it was served with mee hoon instead of the usual wantan noodle (egg noodle). Anyhow, what was really surprising, the vegetables in that very bowl. The usual choi sam and bean sprouts was fine but as I ate along, there were broccoli, carrots, french beans, baby corns and (seriously, how odd can it get with) cucumber?! I was practically eating vegetables in hot water (mind you, I can’t even call it soup coz there’s no taste of any soup stocks at all). When I turned to the lady next to me, she must have ordered soup with vegetables as it was covered with nothing but vegetables!
Food are relatively priced here, with your average lunches starting from $5 to $15 at food courts, pubs, pizza or sandwich places. Between $15 to $30, you can have a good steak, ribs and fresh seafood. Beyond that, it will be find dining or more – such as Tetsuya, which is offering a ten-course meal for $195+ Given the unconscious mental calculation of converting every dollar spent to Ringgit (I really can’t help it!) I limit myself to indulge once a week lunch and dinner experimenting new restaurants or outings with friends. Even so, always look for the good deals and discounts.
The Thai restaurants here are almost a ratio of 2:1, being two restaurants on every street in CBD and surrounding suburbs. Other popular Asian restaurants are Chinese (which makes up of HK, China, Malaysian Chinese, Thai Chinese and whatever Chinese as long as their eyes are slightly oriental, I prefer calling them sepet) and I’ve seen a few Malay or Malaysian restaurants too. Of course you’ll have Australian cuisines, Italians and a few odd Middle Eastern and Lebanese restaurants.
So, am I spoilt with the selection? No. I’d give any of the above in exchange of the familiar aroma of the fresh nasi lemak and mummy’s cooking. Generally the portion here is generous. An economy rice for three dishes in Paddy’s Market is about $8 and it heaps up like a mountain. Trust me, the portion is enough for two of our Malaysian chap farn. Then every Asian food, especially curries are so (ridiculously) sweet. The Asian food here is localised to the taste and not spicy at all. If anything is spicy, it’s just spicy and there’s not much taste. I can’t say much about the Australian dining experience though as I’m still having trouble identifying what is Australia’s speciality?
Given all the food experience this three months, I have to share with you my experience today. It’s winter and something really hot and soupy would do good. I went to the food court, where there is at least 20 odd international stalls. And I picked the oriental like (cause I can’t figure out what version of Chinese it was) and ordered a spicy soup noodle with bbq pork (char siu). Again, it was overwhelming on the bowl with the char siu right at the top and to my disappointment, it was served with mee hoon instead of the usual wantan noodle (egg noodle). Anyhow, what was really surprising, the vegetables in that very bowl. The usual choi sam and bean sprouts was fine but as I ate along, there were broccoli, carrots, french beans, baby corns and (seriously, how odd can it get with) cucumber?! I was practically eating vegetables in hot water (mind you, I can’t even call it soup coz there’s no taste of any soup stocks at all). When I turned to the lady next to me, she must have ordered soup with vegetables as it was covered with nothing but vegetables!
What can I say? They like vegetables in salted (giving it a bit of credit la) hot water.
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